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THE CARTOMANCER

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THE MATTER OF FACT

THE MATTER OF FACT

Last updated on: March 6, 2019 at 7:07 pm by Camelia Elias

THE MATTER OF FACT 2019-03-06T19:07:50+02:00 Camelia Elias

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Il Tarocco di Amerigo Folchi, 1991 (Photo: Camelia Elias)

You’ll hear diviners proclaim that they ‘tell it like it is’. It’s a noble aim, if only there wouldn’t be the thing called metrics, the thing called, ‘what I see is subject to interpretation.’

I have particular clients who are only interested in the so-called ‘matter of fact’. They pose questions of this kind: ‘yes, no, how much, how little, and when’.

Usually my answer to this type of question reflects exactly the nature of the question. I say, ‘yes, no, this much, this little, and, how about April?’

Some would call this approach ‘classical fortunetelling’, being ‘no nonsense’, or being ‘matter of fact’.

I call it interpretation. Even the thing that we call ‘direct experience’, which is something that interests spiritually inclined folks, is subject to interpretation. The reason for this has to do with language and the fact that we have to name what we think, feel, sense, taste, touch, and see. As soon as naming occurs, bias occurs.

So what is it that we do, when we don’t want to believe that, as a matter of fact, as per the old oracle: ‘You will kill your father and fuck your mother’ – the oracle at Delphi is famously ‘matter of fact’.

I like to relax about any tension induced by what I believe I’m doing when reading the cards, or think that I ought to believe, or that I must believe.

I look at the cards and try not to kid myself about not interpreting, not seeing according to cultural constrictions, even when I may well train my eyes to see what’s not seen ordinarily; now that I think of it, the fancy ‘language of the birds’, the signifier for divination, is also a linguistic construct.

Perhaps I’m saying all this because I happen to have my morning coffee while staring Nisargadatta into his eyes – he sits in a prominent place, reminding me of how, as a matter of fact, there isn’t the meter that can measure the longitude and latitude of our bullshit.

Nisargadatta presiding over my ‘beliefs’ (Photo: Camelia Elias)

I take up the cards, and simply ask them to entertain me, while my gaze is still locked in position – I’m afraid of Nisargadatta spanking me.

I ask the cards:

How does my ‘matter of fact’ look like, when I don’t give a flying fuck about it?

Il Tarocco di Amerigo Folchi, 1991 (Photo: Camelia Elias)

Glorious entertainment. Yes, Amerigo Folchi’s cards don’t disappoint. I had a ‘feeling’ that these cards would lend themselves best to this question.

First the impaling, the rear and front end, and then the celebration. As a matter of fact, there’s nothing that champagne can’t fix. As soon as I’m done with the coffee here, and the sharp mutual gazing, I’ll zip over to the store and buy a bottle, as I can tell from these cards that my ‘matter of fact’ divination approach looks bubbly.

♠

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About Camelia Elias

Camelia Elias, PhD & Dr.Phil., is a former university professor. After 20 years in the academia, she left her career to pursue her interests in teaching and writing on the philosophy and practice of reading cards. She works with contemplative arts, oracular language, and martial arts cartomancy and Zen at her own school, Aradia Academy. You can read more about the author here.

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THE HANDS AND THE EYES

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